ACCOUNT OF THE RED-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD. 91 



sion of the powder is sometimes sufficient to stun them and 

 bring them to the ground. It scarcely need be observed, 

 that even the very finest shot should not be used in the pur- 

 suit of these small birds, for a single grain would shatter 

 them and leave only a wreck of their beauties. These plans 

 are but ill adapted to their object, as water injures the fea- 

 thers of the bird, and sand makes it fall to the ground. I 

 have therefore had recourse to two other methods ; I have 

 employed with success the net called spider's web, with which 

 I surrounded the shrubs at the distance of a foot or two. 

 The bird cleaves the air with such rapidity that it has not 

 time to perceive the net, and is thus easily caught. I have 

 also made use of green gauze in the shape of a butterfly net ; 

 but this method requires much patience, and can only be em- 

 ployed on plants and small shrubs. The person must be 

 carefully concealed ; for although the bird will approach very 

 near, it is not the less distrustful ; and if any strange object 

 should excite his suspicion, he quits the flower, rises about a 

 foot above the plant, remains there perfectly stationary, ex- 

 amines the object which disturbs him, and when he has as- 

 certained that his fear is well founded, he utters a cry and 

 disappears. To have any degree of success in this pursuit, a 

 little niche must be constructed as low as possible with plants 

 and surrounding shrubs, from which the bird may be covered 

 with the net, in the same way that a butterfly is caught. 



"Lastly, having observed that these birds often perched upon 

 the dead branches of shrubs, — and wishing to behold in the sun 

 and on the living animal, all the beauty of a plumage resplen- 

 dent with a thousand hues, the brilliancy of which is tarnished 

 by the hand of death, — I inserted some small sticks into the 

 flowers, upon which they perched. I had thus for a minute 

 the pleasure of seeing them dart their tongue into the nectar- 

 bearing cup, to draw from it a liquor suited to the delicacy of 

 their organs. 



"This bird places its nest on trees and shrubs ; the inside 

 consists of the brown down of the sumac, and the outside is 

 covered with lichens. The one which I have preserved was 

 on a small branch of the red cedar. The male brings the 

 materials, and the female arranges them ; two eggs are laid 

 of a size proportioned to that of the bird, and each parent 

 sits alternately." 



